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Ricardo Martinez
Ricardo Martinez (リカルド・マルチネス'' lit. rikarudo maruchinesu'') is a semi-recurring character in Hajime no Ippo. He is the main antagonist of the series. He is the current WBA Featherweight Super Champion in the series, undefeated in 68 matches with 21 title defenses. His main matches in the series are against Date Eiji, twice for the WBA championship, and Makunouchi Ippo in a spar. He has defeated Alfredo Gonzales twice. According to Takamura Mamoru, the natural boxing talent that Ricardo possesses is immeasurable and otherworldly (which is the highest praise Takamura has given any character in the series). Coach Kamogawa says that most take the route for the WBC championship to avoid facing Ricardo. Mexicans who don't recognize their political leaders know Ricardo's name. He is the man who gave Date Eiji his iconic scar. Background Not much insight is given on Ricardo's past. He became a World Champion at the early age of 21, and as time passed he started to be known as the one who takes everything from those who challenge him, he made most who fought him retire, in another way he's the devil, "El Diablo". During one of his first defences as a champion, he brutally defeated the strong challenger at the time Date by 2nd round, which lead him to retire for a short period of time without comeback intentions, to look after his family better. Eiji was broken, scarred mentally, felt like Ricardo took everything from him, he seeked revenge ever since. In his homeland he got to be known as a "National Hero" over time. During and after the match against Eiji amongst the crowd of young children outside watching, one of them who has been living in the slums of that town really hated him but after a while, he started having him as his goal, as he truly understood the champion's reasons better. Following up a few years later after Eiji's nightmare, he faced Alfredo Gonzales as he rose in the rankings, twice in his later defences, he waited to reach his heights since he was a young kid, watching him fight in the ring. In both of those times, he defeated Gonzales who was otherwise undefeated. Marking Alfredo's goal as one only, to go against Ricardo once again in the future, for the third time. He started to be known as an undefeated "Super Champion" and "Living Legend" around the world, although the reasons are unknown currently as to why he didn't have a unification match or move up a weight class, he remained in the featherweights and the WBA position for more than a decade. It is unknown whether or not his current trainer Bill Martin has been with him ever since the beginning of his career, as they do seem to know each other quite well. Part I Revenge Arc As a semi-recurring character, Ricardo's screen time is minimal, but strong. He first appears during a flashback before Ippo's match against Eiji as the only man to defeat Eiji. Ricardo then makes his first physical appearance in his rematch against Date Eiji. When he arrives in Japan he chooses for a sparring partner the Japanese Featherweight Champion, who happens to be Makunouchi Ippo, which he outclasses completely using only his left jab. Ippo fails to hit him even once or to change his calm expression. Ricardo cancels the session so as not to hurt the pride of the Japanese audience. It is during the rematch with Eiji that Ricardo shows his true self. In the first rounds he trades clean shots with Eiji, lefts and then rights, with Eiji hitting clean with his left first in the opening exchange. Eiji manages to stay on his feet in the second round (which was the one he lost in their first match.) In support of Eiji the arena starts cheering him on. As the boxers trade high level shots, Ricardo starts hitting more accurately, then he throws his right and, though it misses, it sends a chill through the entire arena. Ricardo lands lots of clean shots but Eiji still manages to keep standing, and by the end of the round they start trading shots again and Eiji manages to hit Ricardo more. Ricardo is surprised to see that Eiji's durability has increased, as if he had fought someone in the past 7 years who had equal punching power as Ricardo. Ricardo goes back to his corner and says to his trainer Bill that he underestimated Eiji, and that he is bored of the same task, defending the belt. It is in the next round that Ricardo shows his natural style, the one that took him this high up in boxing, landing punches so violent that Eiji remarks that it feels like he is fighting a complete different person. Date's jaw, ribs, and fist get broken throughout the next few rounds; his fist in particular is broken by Ricardo performing an Elbow Block on Date's first try of the Heart Break Shot. Winning without a single prominent injury on his body by the 10th round, Ricardo once again defends his title, and sends Date Eiji away on a stretcher, never again to return to the pro ring. Ricardo currently holds a record of 68-0-0 (64 KO), with 21 of them being title defenses. Part II A Passing Point Arc Ippo and Itagaki Manabu watch Martinez defeat unknown opponent on TV. Go to the World Arc In Round 1014, Alfredo calls Martinez to get him to reconsidered a 2nd Rematch between them. He mentions if he beats Makunouchi Ippo, he wants Martinez to accept his challenge. Except, Martinez doesn't remember who Ippo was. Alfredo mentions that he heard that Martinez sparred with him (in Round 327 when he fought Date. However, Martinez mentions that he has sparred with countless men, where his opponents maybe one thing, but he can't remember every single person he has sparred with, where he doesn't remember Ippo's name. After the call, Bill mentions to Martinez that Ippo used the Dempsey Roll, where Martinez finally remembers who Ippo was. Match History Successions Appearance As a character from Mexico, Ricardo's skin tone is noticeably darker than the recurring Japanese characters in the series. He has a very toned build, muscular, but not large enough to exceed the featherweight division. Ricardo has a rather simple character design, with short black hair and a neatly trimmed mustache on his upper lip. Ricardo's eyebrows are of moderate thickness and his pupils are (shown in a close-up) colored a dark grey throughout the series. In a flashback of Ricardo's first match with Date Eiji, it is shown that Ricardo has yet to grow a mustache. Personality Ricardo seems to be quiet and taciturn, choosing not to speak unless directly spoken to. In media, he speaks with his trainer (Bill Martin) before speaking to the press and is shown to be a confident, but at the same time analytical man. Being the champion, it is easy to assume that Ricardo looks down on those with a lower ranking compared to him, but he has ultimately shown respect to those who have earned it by pushing him to his limits (the only known person to achieve this is Date Eiji). Because of this, it is said that Ricardo won't even look at any challenge unless said challenger is either the highest ranked contender, or their skills would impress him enough to pique his interest. Fighting Style Ricardo Martinez is the most powerful featherweight in the world. His speed, power, stamina, and reflexes are described to be otherworldly. His jab is notable for having no shoulder movement, making it impossible to predict. It is implied during his world title match with Date Eiji that his punching power is on par with Ippo's. In his spar against Ippo, he proved capable of knocking Ippo unconscious in less than one round when he was the JBC Champion with only one title defense, using only his left jab. He is even described by Takamura being "out-of-this-world" and on a totally different level, insinuating that his strength can't be measured because other boxers who challenged him have no idea of how strong he really is. Ricardo's usual fighting style is stick with tight, efficient strikes that quickly wear opponents down then hit a major left or right ending the match. If pushed, Ricardo will launch into his older tactics of launching wild, uncontrolled but devastating precise swings that will destroy the opponent's guard. Date learned this the hard way when Ricardo broke two ribs, shattered his jaw, and destroyed his right hand. Before his fight with Date Eiji, Ricardo mentions that he "was fighting for his duty of defending the belt" and that his style was not a natural one. However, in round 4 of his fight against Date, Ricardo stated that he would fight in his natural style, a style possessing faster pace and rhythm that led to Date Eiji's downfall and complete retirement from boxing. Ricardo has no sunday punch. Techniques *Motionless Jab *Elbow Block *Counter *Liver blow *Body blow *One-Step Straight Punch *One-Two *Straight *Corkscrew Blow Weaknesses As of yet, no boxer has been able to exploit or reveal any weakness in Ricardo Martinez. When using a style that is not natural to him, he is on a level higher than any other boxer in the featherweight division, and in his natural style, he is capable of easily overwhelming the most skilled boxers. Despite many of his fights being short, he does not appear at all fatigued, even in the 10th round of his fight against Eiji Date. It should be noted that because he didn't start off his second bout with Date in his natural style, Date was able to briefly overwhelm him. Gallery Manga Scenes= Ricardo'sMansion.PNG|Ricardo's Mansion Ricardo Martinez with coachstaff.png|Ricardo with his Corner Staff Martinez defeating Alfredo.png|Martinez Beating Alfredo Young Martinez - Inspiring Youths.png|Young Martinez talking to the Youth Martinez.png|Martinez at his Mansion Martinez Remember Ippo.png|Martinez Remembering Ippo Martinez arriving in Japan.png|Martinez arriving in Japan Martinez getting ready to spar.png|Martinez getting ready to Spar Ippo vs Martinez - Spar .png|Ippo vs Martinez Spar Martinez - Spar ready.png Martinez - Spar Pressure.png|World Pressure Martinez - Ippo get punched.png|Ippo getting hit by Martinez Martinez seeing the Dempsey Roll.png|Martinez seeing the Dempsey Roll Martinez defeating the Dempsey Roll.png|Martinez defeating the Dempsey Roll Martinez at the Press Conference.png|Martinez at Press Conference Martinez's Entrance.png|Martinez's Entrance Martinez's Entrance 2.png |-| Anime Scenes= Ricardo Stopping Dempsey Roll.png|Ricardo Shutting Down the Dempsey Roll Ricardo_Martinez_Ring_3.png|Ricardo's Liver Blow Heartbreak Elbow Block.png|Ricardo Elbow Blocking Date's Heartbreak Shot |-| Video Game= Ricardo_Martinez_PS3_02.png|Ricardo Martinez PS3 Quotes *''"From now on, when I'm asked which boxer I respect the most I'll answer... 'He lives on an island nation in the pacific... A samurai that I met in Japan'" - Round ??'' Trivia *The first time the term "Super Champion" was used in the anime is episode two, when coach Kamogawa states that he is watching a "dream match of super champs," in reference to a recent world title match he was watching. **Although in the anime it seems like he may have been referring to Ricardo, in the manga version, Yagi pointed out that Kamogawa was watching the Leonard vs Hearns title match. *According to the author, Martinez is the second-strongest boxer in the series, behind Takamura Mamoru and ahead of Miyata Ichirō. This has caused much controversy among fans because it has not been clarified whether the rankings are for strongest potential in the series or strongest pound-for-pound boxer, and the rankings have never been updated since they were announced. *Ricardo's style, demeanor, career and fighting ability is based on retired former world champion Ricardo Lopez according to the author of the series, who defended his WBA Minimumweight Champion Title a record of 22 times. He is one of three boxers in history to claim the world title, defend the title for years to come and retire completely undefeated. His coach, also looks almost the same as Bill Martin, the coach/trainer of Ricardo Martinez. *Another Mexican boxing legend and most known is Julio César Chávez, who is considered by many the best fighter to come out of that country and as well a hero. He's known for being undefeated in his first 89 bouts, having a record of 89-0-1 before his first loss. He was also known for his great punching power and strong chin. He retired with a record of 107-6-2, with 86 KOs. Although not yet said anything officially from the author if he's also another inspiration, it is clear he is aware, and as well might be but not yet said. *Just like Wally, it seems that Ricardo was also an obvious inspiration of the boxer José Mendoza in which he was also the perfect champion who had never lost, fought beautifully and was admired by all in the manga series Ashita no Joe. The author George Morikawa has stated he is a very big fan of it and one of the inspirations, if not the biggest for the entirety of Hajime no Ippo. *As of now, featherweights Sendō Takeshi, Randy Boy Jr., and Alfredo Gonzales are the only known individuals shown to set Ricardo as a specific goal in their boxing career. *In Round 175, Date's coach mentioned Date's match was Martinez's first title defense at home. But in Round 332 (page 9), the announcer mentioned that Martinez fought Date as his 2nd title defense. **Althought not officially stated by the author, Martinez probably fought Alfredo Gonzales before and after Date Eiji's rematch. References Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Characters from Mexico Category:De La Revilla Gym Category:Boxers Category:Active Boxers Category:Orthodox Boxers Category:Hybrid Boxers Category:Featherweights Category:Champions Category:WBA Champions Category:WBA Featherweight Champion Category:0 Fights Loss